US police shoot homeless man dead in Los Angeles

[Swordsoffreedom]

Police Story

US police have shot and killed a homeless man during an altercation in central Los Angeles, in an incident caught on video.

The graphic film shows a violent struggle between the man and several officers in the city's Skid Row area.

Police say that three officers opened fire after the man tried to grab a gun from an officer.

Witnesses said the dead man was known as Africa and had been homeless after treatment for mental illness.

The LA police department said officers had been responding to reports of a robbery and had attempted to use a Taser to subdue the suspect but he had "continued fighting and resisting".

Video of actual incident:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4N6hDSFbv8

On a related note
http://www.businessinsider.com/untrustworthy-police-get-military-weapons-2014-9
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/11/25/how-the-obama-administration-gives-away-military-grade-weapons-to-local-police/

All part of standard US policy to give even the untrustworthy police used military equipment

[finnile]

Just so you know, there is already a thread on this right here : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=974137.0

[Troonetpt]

Looks like murder to me. Hard to believe all those cops couldn't subdue one unarmed man, either physically or with a taser.If this turns out to be true, they should all be fired and charged. If one of them let the deceased man grab his gun, he should be fired.

[Chef Ramsay]

This is pretty much how these guys are trained, officer safety comes first and everything else is a distant secondary priority. When you got some homeless, drug addled scoundrel going at police officers and not following orders of a law enforcement official, then you're not gonna get sympathy from the public eye. Police have done far worse and got paid time off.

[anshar]

What's new, honestly. You hear it enough, this is all over the news. The next time a thug shoots down a police offer, I'm not going to cry or feel bad. They kill us, we kill them. Why do police offers always get the law on their side? Since when is killing innocent people ok?

I hate American cops. Hate.

[BitCoinNutJob]

This is pretty much how these guys are trained, officer safety comes first and everything else is a distant secondary priority. When you got some homeless, drug addled scoundrel going at police officers and not following orders of a law enforcement official, then you're not gonna get sympathy from the public eye. Police have done far worse and got paid time off.

Yeah its sad, if you become a police officier you have to expect to get your hands a little dirty.  You also need to be hand eye coordinated to a certain level.

Never going back to america again screw that.

[tee-rex]

This is pretty much how these guys are trained, officer safety comes first and everything else is a distant secondary priority. When you got some homeless, drug addled scoundrel going at police officers and not following orders of a law enforcement official, then you're not gonna get sympathy from the public eye. Police have done far worse and got paid time off.

Is the U.S. a police state then? I always thought that the ultimate aim of law enforcement bodies was to ensure public welfare, not their own safety.

[avw1982]

In the US the shoot first and ask the questions later. The cops there are just some guys thinking the're some kind of heroes. In reality the're just scum.

[saddampbuh]

more mike brown than eric garner, he was killed after going for the officer's gun and being a clear threat , not for resisting arrest, the shooting is perfectly justified

[Amph]

In the US the shoot first and ask the questions later. The cops there are just some guys thinking the're some kind of heroes. In reality the're just scum.

the sad part about this, is that they are police, they could just ask him to move if that was the problem, doing it in a gentle way , not like that...

[saddampbuh]

the sad part about this, is that they are police, they could just ask him to move if that was the problem, doing it in a gentle way , not like that...

apparently they were trying to bring him in for robbery

[BitCoinNutJob]

more mike brown than eric garner, he was killed after going for the officer's gun and being a clear threat , not for resisting arrest, the shooting is perfectly justified

I'd think the homeless guy doesnt have the current mental privillage to understand exactly what might happen if he goes for the officers gun.  If the police are actually protecting the public they have to take this into account.   Decision making is different at different times.  

Conclusion: If you are a good cop its your job to not let this particular guy in range of your weapon.   Seriously this is an embarrassment for the police.

[saddampbuh]

I'd think the homeless guy doesnt have the current mental privillage to understand exactly what might happen if he goes for the officers gun.  If the police are actually protecting the public they have to take this into account.   Decision making is different at different times.  

Conclusion: If you are a good cop its your job to not let this particular guy in range of your weapon.   Seriously this is an embarrassment for the police.

kind of hard to arrest and cuff someone without him being in range of your weapon unless you have telekinesis

[BitCoinNutJob]

I'd think the homeless guy doesnt have the current mental privillage to understand exactly what might happen if he goes for the officers gun.  If the police are actually protecting the public they have to take this into account.   Decision making is different at different times.  

Conclusion: If you are a good cop its your job to not let this particular guy in range of your weapon.   Seriously this is an embarrassment for the police.

kind of hard to arrest and cuff someone without him being in range of your weapon unless you have telekinesis

5 or 6 cops vs a guy who probably isnt in top physical condition? they could have just stood around in a circle and laughed at him until he wore himself out.  He wasnt armed and isnt a UFC fighter so whats the rush, takes like 5 minutes to fight like he was until you are exhausted.

[Gronthaing]

I'd think the homeless guy doesnt have the current mental privillage to understand exactly what might happen if he goes for the officers gun.  If the police are actually protecting the public they have to take this into account.   Decision making is different at different times.  

Conclusion: If you are a good cop its your job to not let this particular guy in range of your weapon.   Seriously this is an embarrassment for the police.

kind of hard to arrest and cuff someone without him being in range of your weapon unless you have telekinesis

5 or 6 cops vs a guy who probably isnt in top physical condition? they could have just stood around in a circle and laughed at him until he wore himself out.  He wasnt armed and isnt a UFC fighter so whats the rush, takes like 5 minutes to fight like he was until you are exhausted.

Cops really need a lot more training. And training to handle people with mental illnesses especially. Think a few states have the crisis intervention training and that seems to help reduce fatalities. At least in these cases. For the other cases, a lot more accountability is needed.

[saddampbuh]

5 or 6 cops vs a guy who probably isnt in top physical condition? they could have just stood around in a circle and laughed at him until he wore himself out.  He wasnt armed and isnt a UFC fighter so whats the rush, takes like 5 minutes to fight like he was until you are exhausted.

gonna go out on a limb and say you've never been a life or death situation, this is as deluded as the people who always post they should have shot him in the leg or they should have tased him( in fact i think i read somewhere that they did try to tase him first), when someone's trying to kill you you don't give a thought for that persons life

[ibminer]

In one hand, a cop is supposed to be putting his/her life on the line to protect and serve citizens.
In the other hand, they are trained to take anyones life before theirs if they feel their life is threatened.

It is really tough to expect a human being to be able to assess the mental stability of someone without a medical evaluation, which is obviously not possible in a situation like this. In a heated exchange like this, a cop doesn't know if the personal is mentally ill or even what type of mental illness, they are hopped up on drugs, someone who hates cops and wants to fight, or someone thinking they are going to jail for life and is willing to lose their own by trying to get away.

Point is, a taser indeed should have been used, maybe even multiple times, and should have been drawn well before a gun was touched
I read a report that said a taser was used, and it didn't stop the person. If a taser was used and failed, and if the suspect actually got ahold of the police gun - not just touched it - then I cannot see prosecuting a cop for this. Once the gun is out of a holster and in the hands of the suspect, you better believe every cop is trained to shoot in this scenario and likely to shoot multiple times to subdue the threat.

I am a little surprised by the cops reaction in the video because nobody seems to pull away in fear, like I believe most police would have done if a suspect had gotten the gun away from an officer, and I believe would have backed away while shooting. Part of me feels like the cops were just tired of fighting with the guy and as soon as he "touched" their gun, they knew they had a right to shoot and did it for only that reason. In which case, they are some fucked up cops who reacted out of line.

Conclusion: Not enough details to reach an accurate conclusion, but that's the case with most news stories.  

[BitCoinNutJob]

5 or 6 cops vs a guy who probably isnt in top physical condition? they could have just stood around in a circle and laughed at him until he wore himself out.  He wasnt armed and isnt a UFC fighter so whats the rush, takes like 5 minutes to fight like he was until you are exhausted.

gonna go out on a limb and say you've never been a life or death situation, this is as deluded as the people who always post they should have shot him in the leg or they should have tased him( in fact i think i read somewhere that they did try to tase him first), when someone's trying to kill you you don't give a thought for that persons life

This is 1 unarmed guy vs 5-6 men who are trained for this and they get themselves in a position where he can make a grab for their gun? do you not find that a little shocking?

If the homeless guy did get a hold of the weapon then yeah they then have no choice but to shoot to kill - Its a police error if that happened though. If it were a riot situation with several people and limited officers getting beaten up under life threat that would be different.

I dont understand why you are making judgements of the situations i may or may not have been in its ad hominem, last time i checked i was human and have been in a variety of situations if that helps.  I do try to avoid putting my life on the line for sure.

Conclusion is still: bad policing. im staying the fk away from USA.

[biscotaste]

Very bad policing! It you can't control a suspect with the help of 3 or more other officers, you are useless!

Go grab another donut!

[saddampbuh]

This is 1 unarmed guy vs 5-6 men who are trained for this and they get themselves in a position where he can make a grab for their gun? do you not find that a little shocking?

If the homeless guy did get a hold of the weapon then yeah they then have no choice but to shoot to kill - Its a police error if that happened though. If it were a riot situation with several people and limited officers getting beaten up under life threat that would be different.

I dont understand why you are making judgements of the situations i may or may not have been in its ad hominem, last time i checked i was human and have been in a variety of situations if that helps.  I do try to avoid putting my life on the line for sure.

Conclusion is still: bad policing. im staying the fk away from USA.

because those who have had to fight for their lives usually get why these types of situations can easily turn out this way, the rest usually don't, there is no such thing as concern for the aggressor's welfare in life and death situations this is why trayvon mike brown et al don't lead to convictions

no i dont find it shocking one bit, guy was mentally ill and in a frenzied state and somehow withstood a taser